Container with means for locking the lid

ABSTRACT

A container having means for easily locking and unlocking the lid of the container. The lid sits on a ledge of the container body. A side wall of the container body extends above the lid and has a relief which extends above the lid also. A locking tab on the lid extends upwardly into the aperture and frictionally engages the upper edge and back of the relief to lock the lid in place. The tab may be pulled from the relief to unlock the lid.

Waited States Patent [191 Chaifers 154] CONTAINER WITH MEANS FOR LOCKING THE LID [75] Inventor: John W. Chaffers, Modesto, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Weyerhaeuser Company, Tacoma,

Wash.

[22] Filed: March 12,1971

211 App]. No.: 123,636

[52] 11.8. CI. ..229/44 R, 229/23 R, 229/45,

229/D1G. ll [51} Int. Cl. ..B65d 5/32 [58] Field of Search ..229/44 R, 45, 5.5, DIG. ll

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Kells ..229/45 X McAleer ..229/45 X 3,623,650 11/1971 Watts ..229/45 X 2,893,621 7/1959 Hamish 3,095,137 6/1963 Reynolds 2,622,785 12/1952 Kieckhefer ..229/44 R Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton Attorney-Patrick D. Coogan, John M. Crawford, Stuart A. Heller and Bryan C. Ogden [57] ABSTRACT A container having means for easily locking and unlocking the lid of the container. The lid sits on a ledge of the container body. A side wall of the container body extends above the lid and has a relief which extends above the lid also. A locking tab on the lid extends upwardly into the aperture and frietionally engages the upper edge and back of the relief to lock the lid in place. The tab may be pulled from the relief to unlock the lid.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJAnao ms 3.713.579

sum 2 OF 3 //Vl E/Y7'0/?, JOHN M. CHAFFEPS PATENTEBJAMO m5 3,718,579

SHEET 3 [IF 3 INVE/VTG/P, JOHN C/MFFEFS' CONTAINER WITH MEANS FOR LOCKING THE LID BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Means for locking a lid on a container.

2. Description of the Prior Art Kieckhefer US Pat. No. 2,622,785 which issued Dec. 23, 1952, George US. Pat. No. 2,736,487 which issued Feb. 28, 1956, and Reynolds US. Pat. No. 3,095,137 which issued June 25, 1963 disclose various locking combinations for lids.

In Kieckhefer a spring wire on an outside flap of the lid is biased into an aperture on the outer side wall. Reynolds discloses a downwardly extending flange on the lid which extends into the container. It has locking tabs 32 which fit into apertures on the inner face of the container. George discloses dovetailing segments on the top of the end walls and the ends of the lid. Two different styles are disclosed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Means for easily locking and unlocking the lid of a container. The lid sits on a ledge of the container and has locking tabs which fit into a relief on a side wall of the container body. The relief and the side wall extend above the lid. The locking tab extends upwardly into the aperture and frictionally engages the top and back of the relief to lock the lid in place. The tab may be pulled from the aperture to unlock the lid.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the blank of the container body.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the blank of a liner.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the blank of the end wall.

FIG. 4 is an isometric exploded view of the container. One of the end panels is partially formed to show its construction.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the closed container.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the container lock.

FIG. 7 is an isometric exploded view of the container lock of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The container 100 is formed by folding the body 40 around the end panels 20.

The end panels are formed from end wall blank 10. The blank, FIG. 3, is divided by a single score line 11 and double score line 12 into a center panel 13, an inner panel 14 and an outer panel 15. Glue stripes 16 on the inner and outer panels 14 and adhere these panels to the center panel 13 to form the end panel 20.

The end panel 20 has stacking cleats 21 on its upper edge, and reliefs 22 on its lower edge for reception of the stacking cleats of the container below. The cleats are formed by the tabs 23, 24, and on panels l3, l4, and 15 respectively. Two of these tabs-24 and 25- are formed by reliefs 26 at the edges of the blank and aperture 27 in the center of the blank. The stacking cleat reliefs are formed by the aperture 28 in panels 13 and 14, and the relief 29 in the edge of panel 15. The

opposing edges of the apertures 28 and the edge of the relief 29 are aligned in the end panel 20 to form the relief 22.

The aperture 30 in both the tab 24 and its associated inner panel 14 forms a locking relief in the end wall. The tab 23 on the inner panel 13 is the back of the locking relief 30.

The container body 40 is formed from blank 41, divided by longitudinal score lines 42 and 43 into a bot- 10 tom panel 44, side walls 45 and lid panels 46. The body 40 is attached to the end panels 20 by the bottom flanges 47 and side flanges 48 which are hinged to the bottom panel 44 and side walls 45 by score line 49. Apertures 50 in the bottom panel 44 are aligned with 15 the cleat reliefs 22 in the end walls.

An inner liner 60 may be provided. It is formed from blank 61. The longitudinal score lines 62 divide it into a bottom panel 63 and side walls 64. The apertures 65 in the side walls 64 are aligned with the apertures 51 in the side walls 45 of the container body and the reliefs 66 of the liner are aligned with the apertures 52 of the body 40. These apertures are provided in produce containers to allow the passage of air through the container.

25 In the formed container the lids 46 are bent Although the box has been described in terms of a lid hinged to the side walls it can also be used for a removable lid.

What is claimed is:

1. In a container having a body and a lid, the improvement comprising a ledge on said container body, said lid resting on said ledge,

said lid being hinged to said body,

a container wall extending above said lid,

a relief in said upstanding wall, said relief extending above said lid, a locking tab hinged to said lid and extendable upwardly into said relief to lock said lid to said body. 2. The container of claim 1 in which the side edges of said lid are hinged to said body and said lid is divided longitudinally.

3. In a container having a body and a lid, the improvement comprising a ledge on said container body, said lid resting on said ledge,

stacking cleats on said container body extending above said lid,

a relief in the inner face of said stacking cleat, said relief extending above said lid,

said lid being relieved at said stacking cleat, and

a locking tab hinged to said lid from the inner edge of said lid relief and extendable upwardly into said stacking cleat relief to lock said lid to said body. 

1. In a container having a body and a lid, the improvement comprising a ledge on said container body, said lid resting on said ledge, said lid being hinged to said body, a container wall extending above said lid, a relief in said upstanding wall, said relief extending above said lid, a locking tab hinged to said lid and extendable upwardly into said relief to lock said lid to said body.
 1. In a container having a body and a lid, the improvement comprising a ledge on said container body, said lid resting on said ledge, said lid being hinged to said body, a container wall extending above said lid, a relief in said upstanding wall, said relief extending above said lid, a locking tab hinged to said lid and extendable upwardly into said relief to lock said lid to said body.
 2. The container of claim 1 in which the side edges of said lid are hinged to said body and said lid is divided longitudinally. 